A buddy of mine recently returned from his annual trip to Japan, lacing our female friends with omiyage (souvenirs) that are difficult or impossible to find in the 'States: Green Tea Kit Kat bars, exotic-flavored Gummi Bears, gourmet shrimp chips, et cetera. And I knew he'd have some guy gear that one could only find in Tokyo. This time he was sporting the impossibly stylish Cycling Jacket you see above—you've got to see it and touch it in person to appreciate—which is both well-tailored and functional, constructed from a proprietary blend of moleskin and Windstopper fabrics. While Japanese manufacturer Nanamica sells a few jackets Stateside through the J. Crew Menswear Store, if you want the Cycling Jacket you have to go to their shop in Daikanyama, Tokyo.

To a lover of designed objects, the words "Japanese Market Only" are three of the worst words in the English language. So much cool stuff is designed on that island and destined never to leave its shores, like this beer glass designed to evoke Mt. Fuji, this cutting board meant to put you in a good mood, or this malted milk ball dispenser that I must acquire if I am ever to become a grandparent.

So why doesn't that stuff make its way to our shores? According to the International Business Times,

...Bottlenecks...have prevented domestic exporters from capitalising on Japan's overseas cultural appeal. An inability to transmit information to overseas markets, a lack of sufficient risk money and the lack of an overseas base for rolling out one's business, are some of the bottlenecks that Japanese SME's (small to midsize enterprises) face....

That is about to change thanks to the Japanese government's "Cool Japan Fund," which launched yesterday. The scheme calls for roughly $1 billion of public money to be used to locate the coolest things Japan designs and builds, and then provide the capital to start pumping those goods overseas in an effort to boost the home islands' flagging economy.

Nobuyuki Ota has been named CEO of the Fund, and as a former Issey Miyake exec, Ota presumably has the taste the Fund needs. What's a little more worrisome are the folks who will actually be deciding what is cool enough to export: A panel of government bureaucrats. Let's hope they've all got good design taste.

The latest design news, jobs & events. Straight to you every other week.

Join over 300,000 designers who stay up-to-date with the Core77 newsletter...

4 Comments

'He that seeketh findeth'.
First hit on google with 'nanamica Cycling Jacket': http://shop.havenshop.ca/collections/nanamica/products/windstopper-cycling-jacket-1
Google image search for 'nanamica Cycling Jacket' will get you to an ebay-store for the brown one: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nanamica-Cycling-Jacket-Moleskin-Navy-Walnut-2-Colors-Best-buy-from-Japan-new-/321241894429
Third hit on google with 'Mt. fuji glas' and second hit with 'Mt. fuji glas': http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/s-deco/item/sghr_f_glass/
However viewing the google images i found this very similar glass: http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/freedesign/item/sdimn001/
An Iittala copy? No, Iittala is from 1998, the Japanese one is from 2008. Maybe that's a reason for many "Japanese Market Only"-wares.
Rakuten.com seems to be the Japanese equivalent to what Aliexpress.com is to China.
In the link for Happy Chopper, there is a Japanese link to the makers: http://www.alllovelystuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=40
The 0.8mm thick watch links to a kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1655017763/cst-01-the-worlds-thinnest-watch
The Chocoball case was tricky, it does link to the japanese version of Rakuten without anyway of changing to the global site. But now that you have watched the japanese version it will show up in the global.rakuten site in 'Recently Viewed Products' at the bottom.
http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/liberstore/item/10000202/?s-id=borderless_browsehist_en

Here's lookin' at you, kidNever actually watched the black and white films everyone claims to love? No sweat. If you've got a mil' to kil' today you can massage your movie cred by buying THE Maltese Falcon. Or the getaway car from Casablanca. Or a gauzy garment from Gone with...

If this video was just about a guy who makes things using only pre-1949 shop tools, it would be awesome (check out the wicked picket-cutting machine at 1:47). If it was just about a guy who can turn 1,200 cornerblocks by hand with machine-like accuracy, it would be awesome. And...

Before XBox, before Playstation, before Sega, even before Atari, there was the Magnavox Odyssey, the world's first game console. It was the work of Ralph Baer, an inventor who developed it in 1966 for a defense industry company that developed electronics, and by 1971 Magnavox had licensed it. Some of...

Since 1866, when John Boultbee Brooks first wielded his iron awl and cobbler's hammer to stretch leather over a bike saddle, his company has been known for its craftsmanship, durability, and quirky British insistence on doing things differently. Cyclists are fiercely attached to the brand. Thus, when Brooks England turned...